The main reason I chose the area I did for my last trip was because I really wanted to see Alienor's memorial and the abbey where she spent the last years of her life, at Fontevraud in the Loire Valley area. She is a personal hero of mine - perhaps my main historical hero, even - and I hope this can give you an idea of why.
Alienor was born sometime between 1122 and 1124, the oldest child of the duke of Aquitaine. No one knows the day or year of her birth because no one thought at the time to note the birth of a daughter, no matter how noble. Although most people have only heard of Aquitaine in passing, if that, at its height - and Alienor was born at its height - Aquitaine covered about the same area of modern France that the country then called "France" covered. You must understand that at this time France as we know it did not exist; it was split into several feudal kingdoms that were often at war, always trying to get more land. Here is a good map of France at the time. Note Aquitaine in the pale orange, France in the green (mostly ruled by vassals) - and you can see other duchies I've discussed, such as Toulouse in the southeast and Brittany on the western peninsula.
The other important thing to note on this map is the pink, Normandy, and the darker orange, Anjou. Both of these were held by the king of England - but for Alienor's story it's important to remember that the England of her time was politically French, and had been since its emergence as a country. In 1066 William the Conqueror, a Frenchman, arrived from Normandy, and always considered his primary possession, his home base, to be Normandy rather than England. His children were all born in France, and his whole court spoke French. His great-granddaughter Matilda (an extraordinary woman) married the Duke of Anjou (see above map) and she ended up being the sole descendent of William's who was eligible to take the throne. There was a war over her succession and eventually her son, Henry II, was put on the throne. Henry was born in Anjou, raised speaking French, and always considered Anjou his home base; his British possessions were secondary, even though his highest title was "King of England."
Anyway, Alienor was born into a glittering, cultured, very wealthy court that was more renowned than probably any other in Europe at the time. She was also lucky enough to be raised in a land where women could inherit and own their own property and manage it independently of their husbands, write their own wills, arrange their own marriages if they were over 20, and where noble girls were educated to a very high standard. She did not grow up with the social constraints of so many women of her time; although at her birth she wasn't seen as the heir to Aquitaine, soon it was apparent that her parents would only have daughters, and her inheritance was never a problem.
Aquitaine was also the richest area in modern France - far more than France at the time, which perpetually had financial difficulties. So Alienor had the best education, grew up in the richest court, and by all accounts was very intelligent, willing to learn, witty, and vivacious at a young age.
Her father, the duke of Aquitaine, died when she was fourteen or fifteen, leaving her as the reigning duchess. He had placed her under the protection of the king of France until her majority, but the king immediately married her to his son and heir, Louis VII. This would bring the rich duchy of Aquitaine under the influence of the French crown.
However, as I mentioned before, Alienor had the right to hold onto her own land, so a provision was made that Aquitaine would not be merged with France until a son of Alienor's acceded the French throne - so for now she was free to rule it more or less alone. Just a few days after her marriage the king of France died, leaving the teens ruling as King and Queen.
The French court did not agree with Alienor: she had a deep love for poetry, music, and the arts, and her open enthusiasm for this, her interest in dancing, hunting, and reading, and her free-spirited personality earned her a reputation for flightiness. She was also more willing than most French women to speak to men on her own terms, involve herself in politics, and generally behave "immodestly." By all accounts she was also extremely beautiful.
It's clear, though, that as she grew older she learned how to use her charms to deflect from her somewhat shocking behavior: one story tells how she gave her opinion on a religious and political matter to a leading abbot he scolded her for interfering. When she saw how he disapproved she broke into tears, saying she was just a bitter woman because she had no children after seven years of marriage (she didn't have children at the time, but this was certainly not true).
In 1145 Alienor and Louis, who had had a daughter by then, joined the Second Crusade. It did not go well from the start; Louis was a terrible tactician and very indecisive. Eventually they stayed with Alienor's uncle, the prince of Antioch, who tried to influence Louis to take up the prince's strategies and help him in battle. Alienor's reputation had been damaged due to a series of tactical errors by the army she was riding with, and also there were rumors that she was having an affair with her uncle (people mostly said this to smear her, knowing it was not true). Louis forced her to continue to Jerusalem with him despite her wish to stay in a safer city, and it seems like these factors made her very unhappy.
When they returned to France Alienor asked the pope for an annulment of their marriage based on the fact that they were something like fourth cousins. It was virtually unheard of at the time for a woman to take this sort of initiative; marriages were dissolved all the time but it was almost always on a request by the husband or the wife's father. The pope did not initially agree but after the birth of another daughter he dissolved their marriage.
Louis retained complete custody over their two young daughters, but Alienor's Aquitaine lands reverted back to her sole control, without any ties to France. Within days of the annulment - during which noblemen had twice tried to kidnap her for her lands - Alienor was already engaged to Henry II, the king of England, and Louis' main rival. It seems likely that she had proposed to Henry before her marriage to Louis was annulled, and they were married eight weeks later.
The tumultuous story of her second marriage and later life will come in the next part - and also why the area I just visited is inextricably linked with Alienor, Henry, and their family.
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